(2010 Nero Award Finalist) Things finally seem to be going right for the Amlingmeyer brothers, Otto ("Big Red") and Gustav ("Old Red"), in this fourth outing for the would-be detectives. After years of hard knocks, these cowboys finally have a bit of money and enough time on their hands that Old Red can look into the unsolved murder of his fiancée. Five years ago it seemed the authorities wanted to sweep her case under the rug—and some folks are willing to kill to keep it that way—so the boys will have to keep their wits about them, in a mystery that would have confounded even the unconfoundable Sherlock Holmes.

"Two cowboy brothers turn themselves into Wild West 'deducifiers' in the manner of Holmes and Watson—how cute is that? Not only cute but clever, as Steve Hockensmith demonstrates in The Crack in the Lens."—NYTimes